One of the biggest problems with project management software is that it can be so difficult to wade through that it's hard to get the people you work with—whether they're at the office, your neighborhood volunteer group, or the family members you're planning a reunion with—using the same tool and on the same page. Podio is a free webapp that makes managing your projects a little less like slogging through pages of updates, and more like updating Facebook.

Podio is free for individual users and groups of up to five people at a time, which makes it perfect for small projects. Once you're set up and logged in, you can build as many workspaces for as many projects as you like. Each project workspace has room to store documents, get status updates from other people on your team or people working with you on the project, and as many mini "apps" as you'd like in your workspace. Those apps can be selected from Podio's built-in options, like a calendar, social feed, and document store, or you can build your own custom ones if you have specific needs. In addition to the Podio webapp, there are also Android and iOS apps you can use to update and stay updated on your projects when you're away from your desk.

The service feels distinctly business when you take a first glance, but it's flexible for individual users as well, like volunteers looking to organize their school's PTA, or freelancers who want to give their clients updates on their progress in a single, consolidated place. Additionally, Podio announced today that they support Dropbox integration, so free users with limited document storage can leverage their Dropbox accounts to share and store documents for their teams or clients to see.

Podio's greatest strength is its flexibility—you can customize and tweak your workspaces to fit the projects you're working on or the people you're working with, and you can manage as many or as few as you like from inside. Have you tried Podio? Prefer an alternative service for managing small groups? Let us know in the comments below.